In defense of a hardworking software publisher, I'll bet there are as many
copies of CT out in the ham radio world which have NOT been paid for as there
are ones which have been paid for. Unfortunately, even those who've paid for
their copy of CT have probably "lent" a copy to a friend under the "honor
system" that it's not to be copied, and deleted when the contest is over.
Yeah...... heh, heh, heh! The sad part is that the folks at CT can't say
what they're probably feeling when a request comes along for making the
manual available on line. With no copy protection on the product, the ONLY
way they have a chance to ensure their revenue stream does not go to zero is
to get folks to realize that spending $80 for a good contesting program is
worth it if one has the full documentation. Look at it this way--the
program's free, but if you want to know how to use it, there is a fee for the
manual. Even though we've gone through many releases, most of the functional
aspects of the program remain pretty much the same, so even an old manual
should fill the bill.
I'd guess if one is a registered user, a replacement manual would probably be
available for a modest fee after requesting a replacement from the publisher.
(Who can prove one is the rightful owner at the same time.) Goodness, one
would not choose to use an old dog-eared manual if a new one were
available!! Yet, even a dog-eared version can be copied and look like new
unless one has eaten his sloppy joe sandwich while reading the manual. So,
if I were the publisher of CT and I saw a request for a manual because it was
dog-eared, I might THINK about making a machine readable version available in
the vault, but more likely, I'd say the request does not even pass the
"snicker test". That's one person's other humble opinion, and that's what
is nice about the reflector--it is very democratic and all sides of an issue
can be heard.
Oh, yeah, if going contesting in the Caribbean, consider your CT manual just
as important as your rig's manual and your passport.
--John Scott, K8YC
Oliver Huber wrote:
> hi ct-user!
>
> is there _any_ point WHY there´s no CT manual online?!?
>
> you can download the newest version of CT, all sorts of callsign
> databases (with mistakes in them, we all know that ;-)
>
> BUT
>
> no (updated) manual! at least i would like to download the latest
> text version!
> (in my humble opinion there should _already_ exist(!) such file in
> electronic form - or did someone really type the manual with a
> typewriter years ago and it wasn´t updated since then??!?)
>
> i purchased CT looong ago - and unfortunately ordered it in Germany
> thus getting a translated (german) manual *argh*
> (wouldn´t do that nowadays!)
> when i couldn´t find any details there about a special circuit which
> some US hams mentioned somewhere on a list at contesting.com
> OM Jim AD1C helped out with a copy (he´s a cooperative ham!).
>
> just think about - you´re going to the Caribbean, you forgot your
> manual - hey, but you have access to the internet.......
>
> i really would suggest to RE-THINK this - and perhaps drop the
> written manual and go on with a "online" version. it can be as simple
> as a dos-text-file and the graphics extra (at least the circuits,
> cause we all know how CT looks like ;-)
> (does PDF sound good? how about that?)
>
> we don´t need java, scripts or whatever - SIMPLE but ONLINE is good
> enough!
>
> 73 de Oliver...
>
> ... One of the BCC ...
> ==================================
> Visit: http://www.qsl.net/oe5oho
> Email: oe5oho@hotmail.com
> oe5oho@qsl.net
> Packet: oe5oho@oe5xbr.aut.eu
>
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>
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Problems: owner-ct-user@contesting.com
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